Please, I really need some help and some encouragement. I just had a very bad reaction to electro and I don't know what to do. I'm really feeling down right now. I have noticed that in the last month or so my skin has been reacting more negatively to electrolysis. It started as a scab or two here and there, a smattering of little whiteheads or dry, tight skin. I didn't have anything major though. Then I started noticing more scabs. However, I have never experienced anything like this before. Read on...

Two Fridays ago I had my regular electrologist use her Apilus Senior II on my chin. She usually does blend on me with a Clareblend. She used the Apilus on me once before and I liked it ok. Lately, the cost of all of this electro has been a big issue for me and I wanted her to clear more hair in a shorter time so we used the Apilus again instead of doing blend. It was very painful and I noticed that she had to zap many of the hairs 2-4 times. After the 2nd zap they really hurt! I didn't like how the hair felt like it was being pulled out (not tweezed but really pulled) as opposed to when she uses blend and the hairs just slide out. I had her switch back to blend for my lip because I was not liking the feeling of the Apilus. A few days later I noticed a lot of scabbing where she had used the Apilus.

The week after that (this past Thursday), I went to a different lady that does thermolysis using a Clarblend. She has cleared my chin before quickly and without any major side effects. She worked on my chin Thursday and did my upper and lower lip on Friday. Yesterday I awoke to find all of the skin on my upper and lower lip were crusted over with tons and tons of little scabs. I had them on my chin too. I was so embarassed because I was away for the weekend with friends and there was no way they didn't see my mouth/chin full of scabs. Last night when I washed my face a lot of them started bleeding. I'm home now but I am terribly distraught and discouraged. I just can't explain the sudden and increasingly extreme after effects. Nothing has changed. I still drink plenty of water and use tea tree oil and aloe gel for after care. I don't know what to do. I don't even want to go to work tomorrow. To make matters worse, I have scabs all over my mouth and chin and new hair sprouting up all over. How can I go for another session this week when I have so many scabs? I can't shave with them and I don't want to walk around with a face full of black hair either. I just want to cry!

Is it possible that my skin is beginning to reject electro? Can anyone explain this or just offer some encouragement? This really sucks.

First off, you must allow your skin to heal. No more electrolysis with anyone who is incompetent until your skin is healed. The act of electrolysis is not your problem. The machines or modalities used are not the problem. I guess that leaves us with the practitioner as an explanation as to why your face looks like a crusty pizza.

Sacramento must have many electrologists. After you log a formal complaint with these electrologists, go on the hunt for someone new. I don't for the life of me understand why an electrologist would use a Clareblend for blend and the Apilus for what??? flash? microflash? This sounds like supreme inexperience to me, but I am saying this from afar.

You will heal. Use good aftercare. Take tomorrow off from work. Take pictures or go in and show the electrologist the outcome of her work. No more electrolysis until your skin returns to normal. You can clip the hair with cuticle scissors until you can shave again.

I agree with you that this really sucks. This is what an incompetent electrologist(s) can do and this is why YOU must shop around for an electrologist that knows her equipment, has good vision equipment and lighting and most importantly, has the smarts and skill to remove hair safely.

Dee

I don't understand what you mean. Can you explain?

Ugghh. I feel even worse.
Tomorrow will be better, tomorrow will be better, tomorrow will be better.........

What Dee doesn't understand is why someone is using different machines for various types of electrolysis when Apilus does all of them. There is no need to use several machines when she has an Apilus. So it sounds like she may not know how to use it properly and is maybe practicing on you. It sounds like she didn't adjust the settings properly considering how you describe the hairs not coming out well.

In terms of your skin reaction, can you share whether you used makeup after your treatment? What is your skin routine? Do you use anything with chemicals on your face while your skin is healing like face washes, makeup, makeup removers, moisturizers, etc? It sounds like overtreatment. How long was the treatment? Did both electrologists treat the same area? Did all the areas heal completely before treating them again?

Wnen I started months ago I did use makeup right after treatments without any problem. I would apply tea tree oil and then my Vaniqua followed by some dermablend and mineral powder. At night I used Vaniqa and a rx bleaching cream. Sometimes I use a Wexler serum with MMPi. In the morningn I would wash, apply Vaniqa and bleaching cream and after they settled I applied moisturizer with SPF 30. Then my dermablend and powder. In the last month or so since I have been having more problems, I now give the Vaniqa and bleaching cream a rest for at least 2 days following treatment. Everything else is the same except that now I give my skin some time to calm down before applying anything but tea tree oil and aloe gel.



Each treatment was an hour long. The thermolysis treatment with the Apilus Senior II was approximately 30 minutes on my chin and under the chin. Then I asked to switch to blend for my upper lip. She does blend with a Clareblend Ultrablend. (I didn't know the Apilus Senior II could do blend.) She spent 30 minutes on my upper lip.

One week later I had an hour thermolysis treatment with someone else who also uses a Clarblend Ultrablend. She spent an hour on my chin and under my chin. She didn't have time to get the lip done but I was going out of town and wanted a clear lip so I went in the next day to clear the lip. She spent an hour on my lip doing both the upper and lower lip. I think she spent roughly 30 minutes up top and 30 on the lower lip. I did have a lot of hair on both. She may have spent a little over 30 minutes on the upper lip though.

To be honest I don't really know if the skin was 100% healed between the last week and my latest treatments.

I guess I'm complaining about 3 separate issues. I'm really, really upset about how this last electrologist massacred my face. It is so hard emotionally to be an otherwise fairly attractive girl trying to hide a major hair problem, but to then have this happen to me when I am trying to actually confront and deal with my problem is devastating.

I'm also dissapointed that my regular electro who I think is at least competent when it comes to blend gave me a crappy thermolysis treatment with her Apilus and ended up giving me more scabs than the normal crop that seems to gradually be becoming the norm for me.

The last issue is that I am confused about why I am gradually starting to have more and more problems with electro when all things seem to be pretty constant. I used to be able to tolerate a lot of electro with no problems. I have actually slowed down a little because it was getting too costly and time consuming for me to go 3 times a week for 1-2 hours. I admit I go very often and probably more often that I should. I would say every 4 days I treat the same areas for at least an hour (never more than 30 minutes on my upper lip). I just don't understand why I used to be able to handle this schedule and now I can't. My skin used to heal completly within 2 days or 3 at the most. I never had so much scabbing. The last lady that worked on me obviously did something very wrong because I have never been this scabbed up. The only reason I went back to her was because she was fast, efficient and I didn't have any bad reactions the first time I saw her about a month ago. I did take pictures tonight of what she did to my face.

The thing I don't understand is that putting aside this last horrific experience that left me tremendously scabbed, when my regular lady does blend on me just like we've been doing for the last 3 months, why am I all of a sudden getting gradually more scabs and after effects? I feel like giving up since I still have SO MUCH black hair growing in SO FAST! I literally have to go every 4 days because that is the longest I can allow the hair to grow. My face looks good the day of treatment and maybe part of the next day but then new hair starts to appear and it grows in fast and furiously! By the 4th day I am hiding my face in scarves from my co workers. I guess I will have to start shaving my lip but I don't want to shave my chin because I have a lot of hair on it that I don't treat because it is very fine. I don't want those to grow in feeling stubbly and prickly.

I am strongly urging you to physically go in and show them your face with pictures in hand. Asking for a refund is up to you. They must know this so they can self-correct, at least they will do some self correction if they are smart and want to continue having an electrolysis practice.

The same area should never have been treated every four days. Healing needs to take place and seven days minimum is the rule, more time is required if the area is not totally healed.

Many things have gone wrong. With a professional electrologist that is well-trained and continues her/his education, this would not happen. With proper use of epilators, especially the the best computerized epilators on the market today, this wouldn't have happened. With proper probe size and proper insertions with proper intensity and timing selection, this wouldn't have happened.

Hold people accountable here. Many electrologists could handle this fast hair growth and leave your skin with barely a hint that you are doing anything in regard to permanent hair removal. It's done every day, but unfortunately it's up to you to find who is the best practitioner to do this without slamming you backwards.

By the way, all that aftercare stuff you were using was simply not required. Were you not given specific instructions for aftercare from the electrologists? Also, where were they trained and how long have they been licensed, just curious?

Hi Caligirl, indicative to me by your testimony in text i'd say shallow insertions without noticing the blanching occuring which caused the excessive scabbing. You must keep this area covered until it all heals. either the tea tree or a good ointment continously reapplied after getting the area wet. Under no circumstances should you allow any of the scabs abrate away unnaturally. I vote shallow insertions over excessive current because excessive current would have had you smart each time or ouch. Using different equip is tells me there's a lack of confidence by your Electro person. Post care should be minimized & nix the makeup. Furthermore never wipe these scabbed areas but blot to clean only & apply your medicament to shield from bacteria. Pearl..

Caligirl, I'm reluctant to say this but I feel I must. I'm betting you're in for some scaring on your lips. Best emergency care now to slow the release of these scabs as long as possible. Please keep us informed with your progress. Pearl..

I just called over there and left a message with the daughter and partner of the lady that did this to my face. I stayed home from work today because I am too ashamed to leave my home. I took pictures last night and they are on my computer. I think I will just show up and show her what she did.

I know that I am going to have some bad hyperpigmentation from this. I already suffer from that problem. I chose blend before I started this process specifically because I was afraid of hyperpigmentation if a bad electrologist worked on me with thermolysis and caused a lot of scabbing or pitting. I should have stuck to blend. My biggest fear has now come true.

Dee, the electros I have been to either told me I didn't need to do any special aftercare except for keeping the area clean and dry or they recommended aloe gel. I was using the tea tree oil based on recs from this forum. Aside from the tea tree oil and aloe, the rest were things I was already using before I started electro. I try to use moisturizer with SPF every day. The Vaniqa was to help my hair growth problem. The bleaching cream was prescribed by my dermatologist to correct already existing hyperpigmentation on my lip and chin from years and years of agressive plucking. The derma blend is a concealer and mineral powder is makeup. It is supposed to be very clean and pure and you only need a tiny amount to even skin tone.
After I started electro, I needed the bleaching cream to minimize hyperpigmentation to my lip and chin from the irritation caused by electro and to maintain the progress I had made in the last several months of using it. I especially needed the moisturizer with SPF to protect the treated skin from harmful rays because that can cause excessive pigmentation. I felt I was using a lot on my skin but I felt all of the products were necessary. What would you suggest?